HARD TIMES

In my last blog, I commented on what I called a dangerously inhuman cultural drift. That drift became a torrent this morning when Polly sent me a link to a horrendous video. I urge you; no, I beg you, to watch it. Send it to your friends. Shout it from the rooftops. Write your Congressman. Send a letter to the Editor. Go on Facebook. Tweet on Twitter. Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjxwVuozMnU

Somehow, a courageous and dedicated investigator, posing as the representative of an organization which supplies fetal tissue to hospitals, managed to engage a senior representative of Planned Parenthood in a conversation which was surreptitiously recorded on video.

Deborah Nucatola, Senior Director of Medical Services for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America is a charming, loquacious medical doctor. In the course of a luncheon, she confirmed that abortion providers affiliated with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America routinely request that their clients sign a release of any claim to the tissue removed from their bodies during an abortion.

She also confirmed that such tissue as may be requested by hospitals, and medical research facilities is routinely donated by their providers. Not sold, she says, merely donated for scientific or health related purposes. The receiving hospital or other facility typically pays between $30 and $100 to cover the cost of preserving and transporting each specimen.

I got a couple of paragraphs into this blog when it dawned on me that I have bitten on some believable scams, particularly emails designed to ensnare those of a conservative disposition. So I went to Snopes. I was not the first to inquire. Snopes confirms that Deborah Nucatola is indeed the Senior Director of Medical Services for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

But whether the video is legitimate or not, Snopes has not yet determined.

I did, however, find an opposing video on a talk show called The Young Turks. Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06f1-rCKxUQ

So the opposition concedes that the lady in the video was, in fact, Deborah Nucatola, the Senior Director of Medical Services of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. But, it insists that the video was “heavily edited” to create a false message.

We have all seen how diabolically videos can be edited, so I went back to the drawing board and found the full length, two hour and forty-two minute version of the Nucatola luncheon.

The unedited version makes it quite clear that non profit abortion providers do not sell fetal tissue for profit. Dr. Nucatola insists that whatever is paid to them merely reimburses their expenses. She does, however, contend that making fetal tissue available for research and/or transplant is a good thing, and therefore should motivate additional contributions to Planned Parenthood by its supporters.

She also concedes that before she starts her Thursday surgical marathon, she makes note of the type of tissue being sought by the hospitals; liver and heart being high on the list.

Then, of course, there is the matter of skillful removal. One technique, according to Doctor Nucatola, involves turning the fetus around so as to simulate a breech birth. When the baby comes out feet first, the entire body can be severed at the neck, thus keeping all the organs intact.

The Washington Post reports that The National Institutes of Health spent $76 million on research using fetal tissue in 2014, records show, with plans to spend roughly the same amount this year and in 2016.

Last November, according to the Post, Organovo, a biomedical company in San Diego, started selling human liver tissue primarily to pharmaceutical companies. Today, nearly $2 million worth of orders are booked, said Michael Renard, the firm’s executive vice president.

Planned Parenthood may be donating unwanted fetal tissue for research, but somebody is making a lot of money on those dead babies.

And then there are folks who protest the inhumane treatment of pigs in America.